Artist's Statement:
Passover begins in two days, on the evening of March 27, 2021. The holiday marks the beginning of a people's travel that lasted 40 years. Of the many messages entwined in the Exodus story, one teaches of our human obligation to take care of "the other" – the stranger, the different.
The Jewish people live because the baby Moses survived. The baby survived because of an Egyptian princess – Batyah – rescued, protected him and raised him – all in defiance of her father's orders that all first-born Jewish males be slain. She was perhaps the first "righteous Gentile" -- a term of honor given to non-Jews who have risked their lives to protect Jews from persecution and even annihilation. But Batyah's message is also universal, reminding all of us of our obligation, especially now, to protect and comfort anyone who faces bigotry – regardless of his or her politics or ours.
Oil on Canvas
28 x 22 in
And you shall not mistreat a stranger, nor shall you oppress him,
for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 20:20
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
Art as an Oasis™
Art as an Oasis is a series of occasional postings from the art of Carrie Kleinberger
providing a temporary respite from both mundane and monumental cares
complimented by words of wisdom from a diversity of others.
#egyptianprincess #artasanoasis #egypt #passover #exodus #babymoses #batyah #artcollector #oilpainting #artandliterature #johndonne #artandpoetry #strongwomenofthebible #arthistory #imaginativerealism #artcollection #pharaohsdaughter #compassion #traveltheworld #israel #historyoftheworld
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